The Colson Family Foundation and Norman and Linda Brenden partnered to establish a $2.5 million endowed chair in pancreatic disease research to be named for William E. Colson.

The William E. Colson Chair for Pancreatic Disease Research has been awarded to Brett C. Sheppard, MD, Professor and Clinical Vice-chairman of Surgery and the director of OHSU’s pancreatic cancer program. This investment will allow Dr. Sheppard and colleagues to investigate the causes of pancreatic cancer and to develop novel diagnostic tools and therapeutics.

“Pancreatic cancer is the 4th cause of cancer related death in the United States. Our goal is to screen for pancreatic cancer and make the diagnosis at a very early and curable stage,” said Dr. Sheppard. “This Chair provides us the resources to pursue the opportunities created by the Oregon Pancreatic Tumor Registry and Biospecimen Repository and to collaborate with colleagues at OHSU and across the country. By accessing and taking advantage of the Registry, in collaboration with the Knight Cancer Institute, we expect to be able to link outcomes of our research to the development of screening tools, new models to help us understand how best to kill this disease and to develop novel therapeutics that will ultimately interact with available nanotechnology.”